It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look.....To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.
Henry Thoreau

Monday, August 24, 2009

Daybook, August 23, 2009

outside my window: Still dark and cool.

I am thinking.....I'm really feeling old this week. I had a bout of some sort of stomach ailment, then my knee went out ( yes, all in the same week) I met a new lady at a homeschool gathering and she was 10 years younger than me. Well, that is nothing new, but then it dawned on me that I am now the oldest of most women I meet in the homeschooling world these days. Lots older.

I am thankful . . my gimpy knee gets better every day, although it seems to do so ONLY if I keep it propped up on a pillow for several hours each day, which is difficult at best. But, I guess you have to deal with what is, not what you wish it could be :) Makes you appreciate the simple things in life like, er...walking! :)

From the schoolroom. . .school bins out and somewhat organized. The dining room table and living room are a maze of books, bins, papers and other such educational messes.

From the kitchen ...I think I made dinner ONCE the whole of last week. It felt strange. Dyl made some unbelievable fettuccine Alfredo on Saturday, though. :)

I am wearing . ...black track capri's and a blue knit hoodie.

I am reading and watching . .listening on cd :

Return of the Native Thomas Hardy

The Nature of Water and Air ( which I am about to give up on....interesting story, but the usual worldliness inserted in for shock value, I guess.)

reading:

Clover: Henry Adams wife. I gave up on listening to "The Education of Henry Adams" There was too much in there to read over and ponder, not easily done while listening. So, I found a book about his wife, which includes him, of course. Very interesting, so far. I need to find a hard copy of TEofHA.

Watched:

Brideshead Revisited ( the 2008 movie) I saw this at the library and decided to give it a try, although I couldn't imagine that any movie made in 2008 could really explore the spiritual themes in the book that would do them any justice. It's just not politically correct these days, you know. However, I was somewhat suprised that is wasn't the hatchet job I thought it might be. I think anyone unfamiliar with the book could be left scratching their heads at certain things because they weren't adequately explained, but I thought the acting was well done and the cinemetography, gorgeous!

Brideshead Revisited ( 1981 miniseries)This one is pretty much completely true to the book so far. Marvelously well done.

I am hearing . ...silence.

Around the house. ...ugh. scuzziness abounds when mom is not on top of her game. well, it sometimes does even when she is but at least this time I have an excuse :)

One of my favorite things. ..a little bit of fall in the air :)

What will we do this week. ...family camping trip this weekend, other than that it's the usual soccer practices, teen get-togethers, organzing for the start of school, which is two weeks from tomorrow, I might add!

My daughter's blog

Someone who has a why can live with any what and any how.Viktor Frankl

The worst sin toward our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that's the essence of inhumanity.

George Bernard Shaw

And it is this humanity of Jesus that makes visible what is divine in him, which makes him manifest to us as God. Frenzy of any kind - even if it is 'religious' zeal and frenzy - is totally alien to the man of the New Testament. Think about it: Every time that we believe we are absolutely indispensable, every time we think that the world and the Church depend on our tireless activity, we over-value ourselves.

It is not that I wish to sing the praises of laziness, but I do wish tosuggest a certain change in the table of virtues as it has evolved in theWestern world, for which only action counts as a legitimate and conceivableactivity - whereas meditation, wonder, self-communion and silence are seento be indefensible and worthless, or at the very least, 'activities' thatneed to be justified.